Giddy Ranieri targets EPL title

Claudio Ranieri has shed his coy and cautious demeanour to flaunt his euphoria about Leicester being on the brink of the Premier League title in the most stunning season in the club's 132-year history.

Breaking the habit of a season, when Ranieri has mostly restricted himself to prioritising top flight survival, the manger finally acknowledged the target is delivering the title.

With 12 points to play for, Leicester have a five-point lead over Tottenham as they look to collect the biggest prize in English football for the first time.

The pursuit of the title has overshadowed the landmark already achieved: steering Leicester into the Champions League for the first time by securing a top-three finish.

"Hey man, we are in Champions League!" Ranieri said at a giddy news conference appearance at the central England club on Friday.

"Dilly-ding, dilly-dong, come on! You forget.

"You speak about blah, blah, blah but we are in Champions League! Come on man!"

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Leicester's hierarchy were mocked for hiring Ranieri last July having only just avoided relegation from world football's richest league.

The 64-year-old Italian had been out of work for almost a year after being fired by Greece for making a wretched start to European Championship qualifying.

And he hadn't coached in England for 11 years since being fired by Chelsea. Now Ranieri's team is a staggering 29 points ahead of defending champion Chelsea, with the two teams meeting in the last round.

"The owners, the fans, to the players, the staff, everybody ... it's a great achievement, great achievement. Unbelievable. And now we go straight away to try to win the title. Yes. Yes man!"

Amid the unusual expressiveness, Ranieri still had a serious message for his players: "Keep calm."

One key player will be missing this weekend: top scorer Jamie Vardy.

The 22-goal striker is banned for Sunday's visit of Swansea and is waiting to discover if the suspension will be extended after admitting that his conduct toward the referee was improper after being sent off in last Sunday's draw with West Ham.